We're pleased to be joined by a number of members of the State Senate
and the State Assembly.

I want to thank my wife and family for all their love and support.

And I want to thank my colleagues and the people of New York City for
the extraordinary opportunity to serve as Speaker of this Council.

I am grateful for this opportunity to report to you on the state of
our city, to recall our record of accomplishment and to chart a course
of action for the days ahead.

Standing here, it's hard to believe that only three years ago we met for
the first time in this Chamber as a new legislature.

That morning, you could still smell the smoke from Ground Zero, still
feel the shock from that terrible day.

There are so many images from that time that are impossible to forget,
but the one I remember most was sitting in the memorial service for the
343 fallen firefighters. I remember seeing the entire floor of Madison
Square Garden filled with families who had lost a loved one, and seeing
so many children who were the same age as my two sons are now.

I will never forget their sacrifice and I will never forget that image
because, for these three and a half years, my work as Speaker and the
work we have done together has been about building a better world for
those children and a stronger city for every New Yorker.

We started out during one of the most uncertain moments in our city's
history. We faced the worst fiscal crisis in a generation and had to
make difficult choices to begin to rebuild our city's future.

But because the City Council held fast to our values, I am proud to
report that the state of our city is stronger today than it was when we
began our work here together.

This Council has confronted great challenges. And we have responded by
making the right choices for New York's future.

We've practiced fiscal responsibility, while upholding New York's
quality of life and protecting our most vulnerable. We have defended
critical investments and improved essential services making life better
for New Yorkers.

This City Council managed to cut $3.2 billion from the budget and still
make kids our top priority, invest in working families and never forget
the seniors who built this City.

We put education first, restoring hundreds of millions of dollars in
cuts that would have harmed our children and hindered our schools at a
time when we could least afford it.

We protected the standard of living and the dignity of New York's
elderly by restoring more than $11 million for senior centers and meals.

We kept up the fight against HIV and AIDS by protecting $19 million for
prevention and outreach programs focusing on communities of color.

We took a stand for the hopes and dreams of thousands of young people
struggling to afford a college education by stopping $18 million in cuts
that would have eliminated the Vallone scholarship program.

We defended affordable day-care for thousands of parents by saving 2,500
day-care slots and adding 5,700 more so working families could build a
better future for their children.

We protected tens of thousands of Mitchell Lama units, dedicated $40
million to create additional affordable housing and used our rezoning
authority to ensure thousands of new affordable housing units would be
part of our City's development.

We created the City's first ever Earned Income Tax Credit that's helping
700,000 working New Yorkers take the step from poverty to prosperity.

And we invested $10 million last year in programs to address the root
causes of long-term structural unemployment, because no one should
declare victory over unemployment when half of African American and 43%
of Latino men are out of work in our City.

And let me say that this year my colleagues and I are committed to
doubling that investment - and we call on Mayor Bloomberg to join forces
with us in a united front against joblessness.

I am proud that together, the New York City Council fought for the right
choices in our City's budget. And I am also proud of the choices we made
in passing new laws.

Because extending a living wage to 50,000 workers who are trying to
climb into the middle class was the right choice for New York's future.

Protecting our children from brain damage and lifelong learning
disabilities that result from exposure to poisonous lead paint was the
right choice for New York's future.

Making sure that employees of City contractors get equal benefits,
regardless of sexual orientation, was the right choice for New York's
future.

Providing a school nurse to every child in this city was the right
choice for New York's future.

And guaranteeing access to emergency contraception for the victims of
sexual assault was the right choice for New York's future.

We've worked with the Mayor and his administration on legislation when
it was the responsible thing to do. We've passed hundreds of laws with
the Mayor that will better the lives of our constituents and help
prepare our city for the challenges ahead.

But we've also stood up to this Mayor when it was the right choice for
our City's future. In three years, we have overturned 27 mayoral vetoes,
and we have always fought for the values and priorities of the people we
represent.

That's why we are here. Each of us ran for office because we believe in
the people of this City.

And every member of this Council has contributed to making New York a
great city in the 21st century.

But in particular, I want to acknowledge the contributions of five
people who have done an extraordinary job for the people of their
districts and for everyone in our City. Five people for whom, like me,
this is their last State of the City as members of this Council.

We've accomplished a lot together. But we all know there's still much
more to do.

As New Yorkers, we look forward, not backward. We know that New York
City still faces many tests in the years to come. We also know that the
future belongs to those who are willing to accept great challenges and
make the right choices.

Thinking about choices reminds me of a story about my son, and you all
know how much I like to tell stories about my sons. Two years ago, when
I was running in my last race for City Council, my wife decided that it
was time for my older son to learn to vote.

Addison, she said, today is election day, and we have to vote. We can
vote for Daddy, or Daddy's friend Jennifer. She was trying to be fair,
my wife is scrupulously fair. Addison looked confused. Well, Addison,
she said, voting is like choosing, and we have to choose between Daddy,
or Daddy's friend Jennifer. Addison still looked confused. (He had only
just turned 3.)

Well Addison, she said, in the morning, when Daddy takes you to school,
he takes you to the deli and you have to choose whether you want a bagel
or a donut. This is like that. You have to choose between Daddy and
Daddy's friend Jennifer. At this point, Addison seemed to get it.

So she took him into the voting booth, held him up and said: okay
Addison, do you want Daddy, or Daddy's friend Jennifer. And Addison
looked at her and said: I want a donut!

The moral of this story is that the choices we make are really about the
needs of New Yorkers.

And a critical choice that we must make right now is whether or not to
spend public resources on a stadium for the West Side of Manhattan.

I've heard this Administration talk about how building the stadium is
the greatest test we face. And I can't think of a better statement to
demonstrate how the Mayor has the wrong priorities for our City's
future.

Because when stadiums become a more important priority than schools,
then the Mayor is making the wrong choice.

The bottom line is that I have fought and will keep on fighting against
this stadium so that my children and your children won't end up paying
for this terrible mistake.

Because this stadium won't help our city.

It won't help us financially.

Mayor Bloomberg has told New Yorkers the stadium will cost us $300
million in City money. What he hasn't said is that if the State doesn't
come up with its $300 million for the stadium, we're on the hook for it.
He hasn't disclosed the potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in
infrastructure costs for amenities like a so-called "game porch" and
pedestrian walkways. And he hasn't told us that the Jets aren't going to
pay taxes on this site, that they'll be getting breaks on the
contributions they do make, and that they won't pay a fair price for the
land.

When you add it all up, not only will this stadium cost taxpayers more
than $1 billion, the experience of almost every other City tells us that
we won't make that investment back.

This stadium also won't help our traffic problems.

The Mayor says that this 75,000 seat stadium will add only 174 cars on
game day coming through the Lincoln Tunnel. In reality, the number of
extra cars could be as high as 17,000 for midtown - and the
Administration's plan doesn't include a single new parking space.

To the tens of thousands of New Yorkers stuck in bumper-to-bumper
traffic, that kind of planning will give a whole new meaning to the term
Tailgating.

The West Side stadium also won't help us get the Olympics.

The Mayor says that New York will lose the 2012 Olympic games if we
don't build this stadium right away. In reality, he's setting up a false
choice for New Yorkers. We don't need to build a stadium today for an
Olympics that is seven years away - particularly when there are better
venues in our city, like in Queens, on which to build.

And it won't help us create more jobs.

The right choice is to build housing, commercial and open space on this
land, bringing thousands of jobs right now. And we should develop an
Olympic stadium in Queens. That way, we'd bring twice the jobs to New
York that we would by just building a West Side Stadium.

The fact is: the stadium is the wrong choice. The right choice for the
far West Side is a vision for a vibrant, 24/7 community that will
attract new businesses, new jobs and new residents.

This year, we passed an historic rezoning for the rest of West Midtown
that included common sense priorities: more commercial space, more
housing and more affordable housing, a network of parks and open space,
an extended 7-line and an expanded Javits Convention Center.

Now, it's time to extend those priorities to the rest of the West Side.

Today, I am proposing a plan to rezone the 13 acres of the West Side
that the Mayor wants for this stadium so that we can instead realize a
vision for a thriving, vibrant West Side that sparks continued growth in
the rest of our City. And I ask that you join me in support of that
plan.

It would mean more funds to stabilize our transit system so we can avoid
the repeated fare hikes of the last two years, more commercial space
where our entrepreneurs and workers can realize their dreams, more parks
where our children can grow and play, more access to our underutilized
waterfront, and more housing where New Yorkers can raise their families.

Incredibly, the Mayor says that if we build housing on the far West Side
this City will have "too much housing." Too Much Housing? Too much
housing when our police and firefighters and teachers can't afford to
live where they work? Too much housing when middle-class families are
forced out of our City? Too much housing when the seniors that built
this City struggle to keep their homes?

This site presents an incredible opportunity to develop the housing we
need - both market and affordable housing. And we need more housing in
New York City.

Second, we need more parks and open space and this site presents an
opportunity to expand on the success of the Hudson River Park in a real
way that gives people access to one of the greatest waterfronts in the
world.

Third, there should be a commercial component but one that complements
midtown and downtown - not competes with them. For example, this is the
perfect site to develop hotels that support the expanded Javits Center
that I so strongly believe in.

And, finally, the Mayor says that without a stadium there will be no
7-train extension. That's just wrong. That extension was never about
providing access to a stadium alone. It is about developing the West
Side in a way that creates more jobs and more opportunities for all New
Yorkers and serves an expanded convention center that should be at the
heart of our plans for the West Side's future.

And to make sure we make the right choice for this valuable property,
the MTA must agree that its competitive bidding process will actually be
competitive, by taking bids consistent with our rezoning vision, or else
it will leave us with a process rigged for the stadium.

It's not too late to make the right choices. But we need to act now.

Over the last year, the Mayor has tried to pull an end-run around this
Council to get approval for his stadium. He's sought to bypass the
people's elected legislature by backdoor approvals through obscure and
unaccountable state bureaucracies. He's tried to arrange a massive
expenditure of public funds without any oversight from the City's
publicly elected representatives.

So I will introduce legislation to stop the Mayor's plan to finance the
stadium through a slush fund and make sure that every public dollar our
City spends goes through our public budget process. And I ask you to
join me in supporting this legislation.

This is a stand we must make. Since the Charter made the City Council
the final authority on passing budgets, no mayor has tried to remove an
expenditure of this size from public review. It's wrong. And even if you
support the stadium, this is still a precedent that you and I cannot
allow to stand.

This Administration is wrong when it says that a stadium is the greatest
test we face.

Because we all know that our greatest test is educating our children.

And while every New Yorker should give Mayor Bloomberg credit for taking
responsibility for the school system, no New Yorker who has seen the
results can doubt that too much attention has been focused on
bureaucratic reshuffling and not enough on the fundamentals: smaller
class sizes, more quality teachers, safer schools, and stronger
after-school programs.

Think about the difference between successful suburban schools and
unsuccessful urban schools. The first thing you notice when you walk
into a suburban school is that it's nice. It has lighting. It has a seat
for every child. It has an art room, a music room, a science lab, and a
gym where kids can exercise. It has the basic tools that kids need to
achieve.

This sends a simple message to every child in that school, every parent
in that neighborhood, and every teacher who works there: Your education
is important enough to give you the most basic resources needed for
success.

In New York City, we send the exact opposite message every day. We send
three-quarters of our high school students to overcrowded schools and
then tell them to have lunch at 9:30 AM every morning. We ask kids to
pass science Regents tests and then we don't give them science labs. We
ask kids to become truly literate and then we deny them the arts and
music programs that study after study show improves literacy.

This City puts kids in schools like IS 10 in Astoria, which I visited
last week, where snow blows through broken windows and into the
classrooms where our kids are trying to learn.

This City sends a powerful message every day to kids and teachers in our
public schools that it's not serious enough about their education to
give them the tools they need to succeed.

We have to change that. We have to change the message we send to
children in New York City by fixing every broken window in every school
- not just some.

Last year, my colleagues and I agreed on a capital plan with the
administration that would finally allow us to build the new schools our
children need and fix the ones that fell into disrepair long ago.

But four weeks ago, the Mayor cut that plan in half - taking out $1.3
billion and throwing into jeopardy many of the projects we need to
improve our children's education.

This cut is going to cost us a lot more than just dollars and cents.
This cut means that 117,000 children in our city won't get their
bathrooms repaired, that 46,000 children won't get new science labs, and
that 130,000 children will be forced to go without the security upgrades
their schools need to keep them safe.

We know the right choice is to face this crisis now, and fix these
schools before we lose another generation of children.

The Mayor refers to these cuts and cancellations as mere "delays." He
says they'll get the money "eventually." But make no mistake about it -
education delayed is education denied.

Dr. Martin Luther King talked about how the word "wait" almost always
means "never."

Well, the time for waiting has passed. The time for action is now - and
no elected official can stand up in front of the people and say that
education is your number one priority unless you are willing to make it
your number one priority.

Let me be clear: I will not pass a budget that includes these cuts.

We started our work together on this Council by putting education first,
and we should end it by putting education first. So we will not pass a
budget that doesn't protect our schools.

We are ready, willing, and able to do whatever's necessary to keep the
schools capital plan intact.

Not only will we restore funds to the capital budget, we will make the
fundamentals our priority to give our kids the education they need.

First, that means reducing class sizes. We will bring class sizes down
by building new schools and better using the facilities we have.

Second, we will attract and retain the best teachers by treating them
with respect, providing better teacher training, and, yes, paying
quality teachers what they deserve.

Because when you tell every teacher in the city that there is only one
way they may hang their bulletin boards, you're driving good teachers
out of our schools.

When you hold a stopwatch over every teacher in the city and tell them
that they must spend exactly four minutes teaching one subject and then
six minutes on the next, you're driving good teachers out of our
schools.

When you pay teachers in the city less than their peers in the suburbs,
you're driving good teachers out of our schools.

We need to make teaching in New York City an attractive option. We need
to give teachers the little things that will make a big difference, like
a workspace where they can grade papers, and expanding the Council's
successful HIP program to connect parents with teachers.

And while we do what it takes to put a good teacher in every classroom,
we will make it easier to remove poor teachers from our schools so that
the few who aren't doing their job won't ruin the reputation of the many
who are. We'll offer poorly performing teachers help first, but
ultimately good teachers don't want to see incompetent people in the
classroom next door.

Third, we will make sure that every one of our more than 1,300 schools
is safe - not just a handful of troubled schools. This Mayor has
announced two separate, zero tolerance policies. And why do we still not
have zero tolerance? Because principals have been told that if they
suspend too many children, they'll lose their jobs. That's wrong.

Right now principals are given all of the responsibility and none of the
authority they need to get the job done. We should work with principals
and give them the tools they need to create safe and secure environments
for their students and staff. And we should begin by having school
safety officers report directly to them, not just to the local police.
And those school safety officers need better training and a career track
that's meaningful.

Fourth, we will provide children in our city with real after-school
opportunities. Right now the administration is proposing an after-school
overhaul that under-funds these programs by $16million. We will
strengthen after-school programs by making them more effective, but also
by providing the real resources they need to succeed.

When it comes to educating our children, we know what works - smaller
class sizes, more quality teachers, safer schools and stronger
after-school programs.

But we also know that the greatest obstacle standing in our way is the
worsening abuse that Washington and Albany inflict on our city every
year.

The priorities I've outlined today are the right choices for our city's
future. But we will not be able to meet the challenges of the 21st
century unless we finally get our Fair Share.

Three years ago when I began our campaign to get New York's Fair Share,
the federal and state governments took a combined $20 billion more from
the city than they returned to us. Today, according to the Mayor's own
Office of Management and Budget, they take more than $24 billion.

Ladies and gentleman, we are going backwards -- by $4 billion.

That's $4 billion more that we don't have now for cops and firefighters.
$24 billion that we don't have for teachers, for parks and libraries.
For all the things our City must do.

We need the Mayor of New York to refuse to put up with this treatment
and provide real leadership. We need the Mayor to take a stand and speak
out against the very people who are doing this to our City.

We simply can't afford to let President Bush and Governor Pataki off the
hook anymore.

We are shortchanged on anti-terrorism funding and health care funding.
We are shortchanged on education funding and transportation funding.
Formula after formula robs our city at a time when we can least afford
it.

The result is that we are over-taxed and under-served. We are losing
businesses and residents to cities that can offer more services and
lower taxes.

The children and families of New York deserve better. We demand better.
And we will not rest until New York gets its Fair Share.

If we can make the right choices for New York's future, then I know
there is nothing we can't accomplish as a city.

We can protect our city from terrorism and crime, provide safe and clean
streets and neighborhoods with a good quality of life.

We can fix our transportation system, provide housing, and promote
economic growth in every borough.

And we can build the schools our children need for a lifetime of
learning and prosperity.

Because in the end, there is simply nothing wrong with New York that
can't be fixed by what's right with New York.

My wife and I wouldn't dream of raising our two sons anywhere else.

New York is still a magnet for talented and innovative people. We come
from different nations and from different parts of the country. But we
all come for the same reason that people have been coming to New York
for the last 350 years - to live in the heart of a new world, to build a
better life in a city that represents the entire human race.

Every morning of every day of every week, millions of men and women in
our city get out of bed, and then work all day long to realize the
promise that New York holds out to every citizen of the world - the
promise of a better life for all those with enough imagination to see it
and the guts to make it happen.

It's their common sense wisdom and priorities that we try to put into
practice in this Chamber.

I thank you for the incredible opportunity I've had to lead this Council
over the last three years. I couldn't be more proud of the work we've
done together. And I know we will, together, continue to make the right
choices to build a better future for our great City.

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